A woman at our library book club said 'The Great Gatsby' is just about rich people being sad.

This happened in our meeting at the Springfield Public Library last Tuesday. I argued that it's more about the failure of the American Dream and the emptiness of chasing status, but she just shrugged and said the characters were all shallow. Has anyone else had to defend a classic book's deeper meaning like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_david1mo ago

Oh man, "just about rich people being sad" is such a surface read. My buddy had a similar fight over "To Kill a Mockingbird" at his coffee shop group. Someone called it a simple courtroom drama and a kids' book. He spent twenty minutes explaining how it's really about walking in someone else's shoes and the deep sickness of racism, not just a trial. Some people just see the plot and miss the whole point the author is making. It's like they only watch the news for the weather report.

fisher.diana1mo ago

My friend got into it over a movie like that last week. Some guy said it was just a boring film about a guy on a boat. She had to break it down, how it was really about being totally alone with your mistakes. Felt like that coffee shop fight your buddy had, @the_david. People miss the themes if they only look at what's happening on screen. They want the plot handed to them like a summary.